


Another Step Closer To You

by nommonkeypie



Series: can't get you out of my head [7]
Category: Block B
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-16
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-08-02 20:11:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16311941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nommonkeypie/pseuds/nommonkeypie
Summary: Things like being taken care of in material ways made Jaehyo uncomfortable. That much was clear but it hurt to see because that was the only way Jiho could take care of him. Jaehyo wanted loved and attention. Jiho wished he could give those things but unfortunately the idol life wasn’t forgiving enough to allow Jiho that freedom. All Jiho had was money.





	Another Step Closer To You

**Author's Note:**

> and it's back from the dead as some sudden inspiration hit ^^;;

A second set of hands would be insanely useful right now. That thought repeated in Jaehyo’s head with every step. It didn’t help that he had an insanely big container of his mother’s kimchi. He loved her and having this would make his life a lot better but maybe a slightly smaller one would have been more appropriate. He wasn’t sure how he’d get the thing to fit into his refrigerator.

Walking into his apartment, he sighed in relief. He’d loved seeing his family. They were all the best people in his life. However he also had a life of his own and playing child to his parents again wasn’t exactly his idea of fun. He hadn’t realized how much he enjoyed the independence of his life in Seoul until he hadn’t had it.

Now to figure out what to do with the kimchi though. He had to get creative in order to make it fit but he managed it.

He should probably eat some of it but the idea of cooking something was far from appealing. It was late and he’d spent the last few hours traveling.

_I’m back_

Jiho read the message almost instantly but no reply came. No doubt he was busy with some sort of schedule. Jaehyo had to fight back against being disappointed. He'd known for years that this was Jiho’s life. Jiho wasn't an ordinary person who could just drop everything and be by Jaehyo’s side.

-

He stretched out on his bed, hugging Jaehyo’s stolen pillow tightly.

Jiho honestly couldn't remember when he'd last slept so good. Every night the last few days, he'd been able to instantly fall into a restful slumber. Considering he’d barely slept well, it was a minor miracle in Jiho’s eyes. He wasn’t sure what he’d do when he had to give it back to Jaehyo.

His phone stared at him. He knew he should reply to Jaehyo. But Jiho couldn’t. He knew he’d have to give up the pillow and he couldn’t bring himself to do that quite yet. He wasn’t sure why he was avoiding Jaehyo at the moment. They’d been on a good note before the guy left to see his family and the few times they’d spoken over the last few days had been fine. There was no logical reason for him to be like this.

He kept laying in bed, hugging the pillow.

All too soon, his alarm was screaming at him.

Jiho groaned and rolled over. Well, attempted to. He couldn’t though. There was someone in his bed.

In an instant, he was wide awake with the fear that a deranged fangirl had managed to figure out his apartment code and had snuck into his bed.

Then he heard Jaehyo grumble something. It was unintelligible which only made Jiho smile. The surprise was nice and he leaned back to lay against the man. He had no idea why Jaehyo was here. Just seeing him drove away the weird paranoia that had filled Jiho just a few hours before. Avoiding the man was a silly thing to do because right now, everything in Jiho’s life felt right.

“Turn it off,” Jaehyo said, cracking open his eyes and shooting Jiho a dirty look.

Oh. His alarm was still going off. Jiho nodded, reaching over to silence the thing. He’d forgotten about it in his momentary panic.

“When’d you get here?” Jiho asked, drinking in the sight of Jaehyo. Pictures never really did the man justice. They showed he was good looking but something always seemed to get lost in translation. He’d take the living, breathing man any day.

“Dunno,” Jaehyo replied, yawning. He closed his eyes, appearing to drift off again.

He felt goofy but Jiho smiled. He couldn’t help it. “I have to get up,” he told the man in his bed. He didn’t want to. He needed to though. There were talks today about having him do the new season of Show Me The Money. They wanted him again. He wasn’t quite sure how he felt about it. After all, the season he’d done a couple of years ago had been...well, the amount of unnecessary drama hadn’t been the best. He’d loved being a producer and working with so many different people but the show just had so much drama.

He understood why. Drama made people watch a show. That didn’t mean he had to like it.

This time he should have Dean by his side. Working with Palo Alto had been an honor but the thought of being with a friend made the idea of working on the show again palatable. It helped that his brother had mentioned sitting out this season. That...Jiho loved his older brother but having him be part of the show hadn’t helped their relationship at the time.

“Al’ays lea’ing.” Jaehyo sounded more asleep than awake. His words stabbed Jiho in the chest. In the heart if he wanted to be honest. He didn’t.

But he was always leaving. He always had somewhere else he was supposed to be. Someone else he was supposed to see.

He nodded. “Sorry about that hyung.” Jiho hoped his voice wouldn’t crack.

Fuck. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Jaehyo was someone he cared for but he hated just how deeply he cared. He knew this would hurt him one day and every day felt like he was creeping closer and closer to it.

-

Someone was beating on the door. Jaehyo tried to ignore it. After all, this wasn’t his apartment. He didn’t know who was at Jiho’s place but it definitely didn’t seem like a smart idea to answer the door.

Four minutes later and the person was still beating on the door. Pulling the pillow over his head, Jaehyo closed his eyes and wished whoever it was would go away. This wasn’t his apartment so there was no chance in hell that he’d open that door. No one knew about him even knowing Jiho. Answering the door half-naked just sounded like trouble.

After what felt like an eternity, the person apparently gave up and finally left. Jaehyo sighed in relief. He should get up now. As great as it sounded, he couldn’t spend the day in Jiho’s bed. Besides, it was kind of boring to spend time alone in Jiho’s bed.

A quick shower later and Jaehyo found himself with a new problem. He knew he could wear his clothes. But they were dirty and just the thought of putting them back on made his skin crawl. Could he raid Jiho’s closet? They were about the same size so in theory it could work but...how would Jiho feel about it? His things were nicer than Jaehyo’s and he cared about his image in a way that Jaehyo didn’t quite get.

“Yeah?” Jiho picked up right away which was a surprise but one that worked for Jaehyo.

“It’s kind of embarrassing,” Jaehyo started. This was already going _sooooo_ well. “I’m still at your place and…”

“What is it?” The concern in Jiho’s voice sent a wave of embarrassed guilt through Jaehyo.

He took a deep breath and then said the rest in a jumble. “All my stuff is dirty and I don’t want to wear it but I don’t have anything else to wear either and I should go home but I can’t leave naked and I was thinking maybe I could borrow something of yours but I didn’t know how you’d feel about it.”

There was a long pause. And then Jiho started laughing, loud and booming and clearly amused. “Take whatever you want, hyung,” Jiho said after a long moment. He’d very clearly taken a moment to catch his breath which hadn’t helped the anticipation Jaehyo was feeling. “I trust you.”

Well fuck. Way to say the exact words to make the ball of worry just melt away.

Jaehyo looked through the closet. There were so many things and all of them were brands that cost entirely too much money. He swallowed hard. Their lives were such a contrast and most of the time, Jaehyo could push that to the back of his mind. Right now? He just couldn’t. Not when the reality of their differences was staring at him.

He wanted to shut the closet, put on his old clothes, and slink back home. He knew Jiho had said it was okay. But Jiho didn’t understand how horrifying and awkward this moment. Hell, Jaehyo himself hadn’t realized how bad it would be. It hurt to look through the things. Some of these clothes probably cost more than Jaehyo’s rent.

It took some searching but finally Jaehyo found a shirt and a pair of pants that didn’t scream ridiculous amounts of money. From what he’d seen in this closet, they were probably the most expensive things but at least they didn’t look expensive. 

The shirt smelled like Jiho. It was soft and comfortable and smelled like the rest of Jiho’s things which made Jaehyo smile a little despite his uncomfortability. Just as he was about to leave the closet, a small bottle caught Jaehyo’s eye. He recognized it instantly and his smile grew.

“I forgot about this,” he murmured to himself, fingering the bottle of aftershave. He’d sent it to Jiho once upon a time, back when Jaehyo had still run FoxZi. Those days felt like forever ago. Looking at the bottle, it was clear that Jiho was using the aftershave. Not all the time but enough that the bottle was half-empty.

-

Jiho looked at his phone, wishing he could get away from this meeting. He knew these were important. These meetings were Block B’s future. He just found himself wishing he could step away for a little bit. Let someone else take the reins and lead Block B.

He’d never had these sorts of thoughts before. Not even in Block B’s darkest days when it looked like the group might be done with. But then again, Jiho had never had a life outside of music before. His life had been Block B, every single moment of every day. Until Jaehyo.

Jaehyo had turned everything in his life upside down. Jiho didn’t blame the guy. It was just an unexpected thing that had happened. A wonderful thing but unexpected nonetheless.

Knowing how this was likely to turn out hurt to think about. Jiho knew he had reached the point where this wasn’t some little fling. It wasn’t a simple friends with benefits situation either. They were something more than those things. He hesitated to say they were dating because they didn’t really do anything that couples really did outside of have sex. He hated that because it made their relationship feel so impersonal.  
Jiho closed his eyes.The group around him kept talking, throwing around sales figures that Jiho knew he should be listening to. He just couldn’t concentrate on them now. Not when all he wanted was to get away from this entire life for just a little bit.

The more he thought about it, the more amazing of an idea that sounded. He wasn’t sure if he could do it. There was so much work. He could never get away from the sheer amount of it all. And Jaehyo would probably never go for it. He was so skittish and shy in the best ways.

Things like being taken care of in material ways made Jaehyo uncomfortable. That much was clear but it hurt to see because that was the only way Jiho could take care of him. Jaehyo wanted loved and attention. Jiho wished he could give those things but unfortunately the idol life wasn’t forgiving enough to allow Jiho that freedom. All Jiho had was money.

His own name caught his attention, forcing Jiho to focus on what the group of suits around him were talking about. Apparently they wanted him to go on tour, traveling to multiple cities around the world. Just him. No Block B.

The thought of traveling around the world, performing alone, was exhilarating and terrifying all at the same time. He’d gone on a world tour with Block B before. The idea of traveling around the world was nothing new. But with Block B at his side, he’d never been alone. He’d had friendly faces at his side. Not so much the case if he was on a solo tour.

And then there was the thought that he’d go weeks without getting to see Jaehyo in person. That thought, more than anything else, hurt. This was would be different from Jiho’s trips to Japan. Yes, those had happened and were semi-frequent at times but Japan was just a short distance away. It was just a short plane ride away. The United States and Europe? Those were a far different sort of beast and he wasn’t sure how he would be able to handle it.

-

A week later, Jiho was finally able to sneak away from his life. He couldn’t help but smile. Jaehyo’s place was small (so impossibly small) but it was safe and comfortable. Jiho felt more at peace in this moment than he’d felt at any other moment in his life.

Jaehyo was busy working. He was barely an arm’s length away and Jiho could easily reach out and touch him. Jiho didn’t though. He liked watching Jaehyo work. The guy was dedicated to photography in a way that rivalled Jiho’s own dedication to music. Jiho rather liked that. Jaehyo having his own artistic passion meant that he understood when Jiho’s life got crazy. Sometimes inspiration hit and was unavoidable.

“Come on tour with me.”

The words slipped out of Jiho’s mouth. The thought had been in his head for days now. He wanted to get Jaehyo away from this life. He wanted Jaehyo somewhere else where they didn’t necessarily have to hide away. Jiho knew they could never be completely public. Not unless he wanted to burn everything he’d built up in his music career to ashes.

That got Jaehyo’s attention. He stopped what he was doing and turned to look at Jiho. “You’re going on tour?”

There was shock in his voice. Jiho groaned as he realized what he’d said. “Yeah. Yeah I am,” the idol replied. “A solo one overseas.” The details were still being worked out and nothing official had been released. “All the details are still being worked on,” he added, “nothing’s set in stone yet but they want me to go to the United States and Europe.”

“That’s...that’s a really big deal.” Jaehyo sounded conflicted. He looked and sounded like he wanted to be happy about it. And he probably was, given how big a deal this was. But the way Jaehyo said it made it clear that he wasn’t exactly thrilled about the news either.

Jiho nodded. “I know. You should come with me.” He was trying not to shake. This was such a big deal and he knew it. This was one of the biggest steps towards something that was actually real and it could expose him. He didn’t want to do this without Jaehyo though. Leaving for that long hurt his heart in a way that Jiho didn’t know if he could live with.

Jaehyo chuckled nervously. “I don’t think I could do that.”

“You could. We could get you a position. Official tour photographer,” Jiho said. He was making this up off the top of his head but honestly? The idea wasn’t half bad. He could probably sell this to the higher ups. “Maybe I can convince them to put out a photobook of the tour and you could be our person for it.”

Something like that would be huge for Jaehyo’s career. It could work for both of them. Jiho just had to sell it to everyone, including Jaehyo.

Jaehyo chuckled again, still nervous. He looked like he might be considering it though which was amazing. “If you can get your people to agree to that and have them draw up a contract in writing, I’ll do it.”

From the way Jaehyo said that and the way he looked, the guy seemed to doubt that would ever happen. Jiho decided in that instant that he would make it his personal mission. He wouldn’t stop until Jaehyo signed the contract and it was official.


End file.
